Mastering the Playlist...

If I ever have to run without music I either slow down significantly or fall victim to that little voice in my head that says 'STOP NOW. YOU NEED A MACCHIATO'.  Having the right music to keep spirits and tempo high is therefore of utmost importance - my finish time depends on it.

The main struggle has been finding enough songs that have the right 170-190 bpm tempo AND is something I want to listen to.  One website that has been a HUGE help is jog.fm (http://jog.fm/workout-songs) where you can search their library by tempo and listen using Spotify.

Once I found all of my songs it was a matter of putting them in the right order.  At first I threw them all in together and hit 'shuffle'. Big mistake. Having a fast song, then slow song, then fast, slow, etc. is exhausting and I don't recommend it. Instead, I used this handy tool (http://www.all8.com/tools/bpm.htm) to determine the exact tempo of each song and then sort them from slowest to fastest.

This gradual tempo increase both conserves energy AND is more fun as you start to feel yourself running faster, faster, faster.  That being said, here's my list!

I love songs like 'Swagga Like Us', 'Run This Town', and 'The Distance' are too much fun to run to; I get so pumped up I forget I'm even running!  The slowest song is 170 bpm and the fastest is in the 190's ('Rocketeer' and that's why it's on there twice).  This tempo keeps me light on my feet, forces smaller steps, and keeps me on my toes and off of my heels - all things that runner's need to focus on - except with this playlist I don't need to 'focus' on it at all!